Chapter 1407: Paradise Lost (18)
Shuuuuung…!!!
A house-sized boulder floated, defying gravity, and an uprooted tree slowly ascended.
It was a massive canyon where every object and thing in sight rose and moved in different directions.
Lennok, along with Freya, arrived at the designated rendezvous point and was examining the rules of the Spell-Word Stone.
[The interpretation and understanding of language must be done from various perspectives.]
[Therefore, in this space, viewing objects from a single viewpoint and perspective is forbidden.]
[Rule One. Both feet are forbidden from leaving the ground.]
[Rule One. The place where both feet touch is considered the ground.]
[Rule One. Two people are forbidden from standing on the same ground simultaneously.]
[Rule One. Two people are forbidden from looking in the same direction simultaneously.]
“So many strange things keep happening that we haven’t even had a chance to properly tackle the Spell-Word Stones….”
Freya tilted her head as she looked at the objects floating all around.
“This place is something else. Is it some kind of zero-gravity zone?”
“It’s more like different directions of gravity are acting on each object.”
Lennok, who had been watching the floating objects, turned his gaze.
“It seems the direction of gravity acting on an object changes depending on which direction is defined as the ground. It appears to be a matter of observation and perception.”
“That’s very accurate, my dear mad Tower Lord.”
Shuuuung-
At that moment, Ermont, hanging upside down from an elongated boulder, passed by Lennok.
A familiar face, standing with his feet planted on the boulder and arms crossed, grinning in their direction.
“The place where both feet touch is considered the ground, and gravity acts based on that direction. It’s a bit complicated, but you’ll be able to adapt quickly.”
“…”
Instead of replying, Lennok stared intently at the black wizard’s face.
The image of Ermont he had seen just before regressing inadvertently overlapped with the man before him.
Was it just his imagination that the sight of him accepting the end without regret as it approached was particularly striking?
However, Ermont, in response to Lennok’s reaction, looked rather uncomfortable and took a slight step back.
“Hey, why are you staring at me so creepily? Did you go crazy from not being able to kill anyone for a while?”
“…”
“…Uh, I’m kidding. It’s not like I accidentally hit the mark or some other terrible thing, right?”
“Idiot, what kind of person do you think the Tower Lord is?”
Seeing Ermont break into a cold sweat, Freya scoffed with her arms crossed.
“Does the Tower Lord look like someone who’s slow on the draw? If he wanted to kill you, he would have blown your head off the moment you made eye contact. Don’t be a coward.”
“W-Well, that certainly has a point… but why are you talking as if you’re Adamant Thunder’s spokesperson? I’ve known him longer than you have, you know?”
“What are you talking about? You mean the relationship where you got beaten up, not one where you knew each other.”
“Is it fair to bring up facts so cowardly?”
Even after the incident in the Cradle, Freya’s attitude hadn’t changed much from usual.
Perhaps her personality, which didn’t dwell on the past and let it flow by, was a help.
While Ermont and Freya couldn’t resist bickering for even a moment, Lennok spoke.
“This isn’t the way.”
“Pardon?”
“To get to Yeongheo Palace, we need to go to the southwestern plains, not this canyon. We can get a rough idea after bypassing three more Spell-Word Stones.”
“…What did you say?”
Leaving the startled pair behind, Lennok was lost in thought.
The direction and coordinates of Yeongheo Palace, which the berserk Jinwa had swallowed just before his regression.
The various precepts and rules written on the Spell-Word Stones that had been uprooted and floated up in the chaos.
It was because the landscapes that had flashed by amidst the all-encompassing ruin still remained in Lennok’s memory.
This was information the boy of the Black Edict had conveyed at the cost of his own existence. He couldn’t afford to waste or forget it.
“It’s fine for now, but there’s a boundary line where the rules of the Spell-Word Stones become abnormally dangerous. Yeongheo Palace lies at the center where those boundaries overlap.”
“…”
“I have a few methods in mind to bypass the rules… I suppose I’ll have to test them once we arrive.”
“Uh, what have you been talking about this whole time?”
“Never mind. I’ll explain the details when we’re inside.”
Lennok turned his head.
“Where are the others? Are you sure this is the meeting spot?”
“Ah, yes. They should be arriving soon.”
Ermont nodded with a dubious expression.
“This Spell-Word Stone. It only has four rules, and the conditions aren’t too strict, so it’s one of the safer places around here. Hylaea picked a good spot.”
“…Only four?”
“It forbids both feet from leaving the ground. But here’s the thing, ‘both feet’ don’t necessarily have to belong to one person.”
Ermont shrugged.
“If I place one of my feet on the ground and someone else places their foot on the ground, it doesn’t violate the rule. That’s how we cross this space, by changing the direction and gravity of the objects we’re standing on. Not too difficult, right?”
“…”
“If a rule doesn’t specify a subject, it’s important to be suspicious first. If a sentence is open to interpretation, it can change according to the Ascendant’s criteria, so you have to test it before you get screwed.”
Somehow, Ermont seemed unusually familiar with navigating or dealing with the rules of the Spell-Word Stones.
It was only after hearing Ermont’s continued explanation that Lennok realized the source of his unease.
“This is what happens when you roll around for over three days doing nothing but tackling Spell-Word Stones. So, did you guys make any progress?”
“…I see.”
“Huh? That’s not an answer.”
The source of the unease he felt from the conversation with Ermont.
The timeline was subtly different.
The time Lennok spent with the boy in the Cradle was, at most, less than two days.
But the other members had been exploring Paradise Lost here for over three days.
Could it be that time around the Cradle flowed slower than in other parts of Paradise Lost?
No, Lennok intuitively knew the difference stemmed from the boy’s existence, not the Cradle.
The boy Lennok met was a being made of Jinwa’s Spell-Words. A trigger that activated the Spell-Word of time reversal.
If so, it wouldn’t be strange for time to flow particularly slowly around the boy, creating a discrepancy with other places.
It was just that he was only now realizing it in a different way, after the boy was gone.
“…”
It was a fresh realization, but just how transcendent was the battle between Myeong and Jinwa?
Perhaps the clash of two Transcendent beings was a ceaseless battle that manipulated and rewound not only perceived time but physical time as well.
“Black wizard. What have you been dawdling over there for?”
Fwoosh-
With those words, a thick wooden sculpture shot up from above Lennok’s head.
The Spell Master, standing sideways on the sculpture, grabbed Ermont by the scruff of his neck and spoke.
“The time we have with the substituted rule is almost up. If you’re done checking, move quickly.”
“Hey, I haven’t seen this guy in three days, and he hasn’t changed at all. Isn’t it strange how impossible he is to talk to?”
“It’s hardly surprising that your dull mind can’t recognize an intellectual.”
The Spell Master, who had pulled Ermont up by the scruff, looked at Lennok, his eyes shining.
“You’re alive, Adamant Thunder. In your absence, I had to spend a very painful time with these barbarians.”
“What’s the psychopath who tried to dissect every corpse in Paradise Lost he could find talking about?”
“I’m glad you’re safe, Freya.”
“Hylaea!”
Freya’s face brightened as she quickly turned her gaze, only to pause upon seeing Hylaea standing at the edge of the canyon.
Her hands were wrapped in blood-soaked bandages, and her arm was supported by a splint. It looked as if she had been injured multiple times while making something.
Hylaea looked at the two with a calm expression and nodded as if in understanding.
“I see, the timelines were different. There was a reason the communication lines were down all this time.”
“You understood just by looking?”
“The way you say that means you knew as well, right?”
“What are you talking about? Different timelines?”
Leaving a bewildered Freya behind, Hylaea extended her hand.
“That’s enough, let’s talk while we move. I have a lot to say.”
Shuuuuuu…!!!
At that moment, following Hylaea’s gesture, a massive structure rose from below the cliff.
It had the shape of a flying vessel, seemingly carved from wood into an artificial, multi-faceted form.
Maiya and Sarin, who were on top of it, looked at Lennok and spoke.
“You were late to return.”
“Come up here, Tower Lord. Don’t worry about the rules.”
“…”
The other members also looked quite accustomed to the environment, as if they had adapted.
Lennok, along with a hesitant Freya, boarded the multi-faceted wooden airship.
The floor was composed of a very complex polyhedron, creating a peculiar shape where the balance was subtly off.
It was designed so that just by standing still, one would naturally stand in a different direction or at a different angle from the other members.
“Interesting. Did you create a sanctuary that allows you to stay safely in Paradise Lost while obeying the rules of this place?”
“The range of this canyon’s rules is a 2 km radius. The range itself is smaller compared to other Spell-Word Stones, but the rules themselves are quite strict in many aspects.”
Hylaea said calmly after boarding the vessel.
“According to the rules, we must stand on different grounds in this canyon and each look in a different direction… but the stricter the rules, the more ways there are to bypass them.”
“…”
A somewhat abnormal, unbalanced, multi-faceted airship.
Was it an object that had undergone complex design so that merely being on it wouldn’t violate the rules of the Spell-Word Stone?
“Hylaea made it herself. She seems to have a surprising talent for making things like this.”
Sarin shrugged.
“I’d heard there were many skilled artisans among those with a Talent for Duality, but seeing it for the first time is quite fascinating.”
“Don’t be surprised. That’s why I joined this operation in the first place.”
Hylaea replied with a calm expression and turned her gaze toward Lennok.
“Let’s start by briefly summarizing what’s happened. It seems we both have things to say, don’t we?”
“…”
“After communication was lost with you and Freya, we decided to postpone exploration in that direction for the time being.”
As they traversed the canyon on the airship, Hylaea briefly explained what had happened.
“We realized there were areas within Paradise Lost where time flowed differently, and for the moment, the other members were busy tackling their assigned Spell-Word Stones.”
“…”
“Besides, you wouldn’t be in any danger unless an Ascendant intervened directly. So we decided to prioritize making progress on our end.”
“That…”
“Freya?”
“…No. It’s nothing.”
Freya, with a strange expression, was about to say something but then glanced at Lennok and waved her hand listlessly.
“Keep talking. So?”
“We excluded the direction you two headed in and changed our route. After several attempts, we managed to remove a few Spell-Word Stones and succeeded in locating where Myeong’s Legacy is hidden….”
“It was in the direction of the Emperor’s Yeongheo Palace.”
“…”
In that instant, a chillingly quiet silence descended upon the airship.
The Pandemonium members, who had been silently waiting for the explanation, turned to look at Lennok with surprised expressions.
“How…”
“Adamant Thunder, don’t tell me you’ve been inside Yeongheo Palace?”
“Impossible. It shouldn’t even be in an approachable state right now.”
Had Pandemonium managed to figure out to some extent, through their exploration of Paradise Lost, what Lennok had realized in the Cradle?
Just by discovering that the legacy was located inside Yeongheo Palace, it was clear the members had achieved some results.
“Adamant Thunder. You’ve found something out about Yeongheo Palace. If you’ve obtained information that can support our suspicions, would you tell us?”
Hylaea’s expression turned serious, sensing something unusual in Lennok’s response.
“In the process of searching for the legacy, we confirmed that the Ascendant has not yet awakened. There was a reason Paradise Lost has been so quiet.”
“…”
“Deep in the depths beneath this Paradise Lost… ‘she’ seems to be asleep. It appears the reports that she took significant damage in her decisive battle with Myeong were true.”
Freya glanced at Lennok, but Lennok didn’t answer.
Instead, he was merely lost in deep thought, as if mulling over Hylaea’s words.
“Which means we don’t necessarily have to steal the legacy during the transaction between the Three Grand Dukes and the Ascendant.”
Looking at Lennok, Ermont shrugged.
“There’s no need to fight the Ascendant, is there? Is there anyone here who wants to die quickly, or become Jinwa’s slave, or has some other wish like that?”
“…”
“If we sneak into Yeongheo Palace while Jinwa is asleep and just swipe the legacy? The deal falls through, the Three Grand Dukes are enraged, and Jinwa is flustered!”
“…”
“Then we can just quietly escape Paradise Lost amidst the confusion. Doesn’t that sound like a perfect plan just thinking about it?”
“I understand what you mean.”
Lennok nodded.
“But we’ll need to think a bit more about Jinwa.”
“Pardon?”
“This time, I’ll explain what happened on our end.”
Lennok briefly summarized what had happened after he and Freya were separated.
Meeting the subordinate of the Three Grand Dukes in front of the Spell-Word Stone. Encountering Myeong’s berserk power and discovering the young boy in the Black Coffin.
Entering the Cradle with the boy’s guidance and meeting Jinwa herself there, hearing about the deal.
And finally, rewinding this entire affair through the boy’s existence to return to this place.
“…”
By then, the expressions of the members listening to the story had turned blank.
“I have no idea what any of this means. Did I hear that correctly?”
“The Ascendant’s true body descended, went berserk while swallowing Yeongheo Palace. And you rewound all of that using a Spell-Word?”
“You’re saying a conclusion was already reached once in Paradise Lost without us feeling anything…”
“An inexpressibly fascinating subject.”
Soryu questioned in disbelief, and the Conjunction Spell Master’s eyes sparkled like a child’s.
“If the time of the Ideological Domain was turned back, how is time flowing outside right now? Is it possible we’ve entered another parallel universe instead of regressing? What was the ‘me’ before the regression doing?”
“…”
“As I thought, I should have gone instead of that noisy woman. Why wasn’t this precious experience afforded to me?”
“What’s this crazy bastard talking about….”
As a horrified Freya distanced herself from the Spell Master, Hylaea muttered with a stiff expression.
“I see… so we were the ones who couldn’t approach the core from the very beginning.”
“…”
“The moment we lost contact, you had already faced the worst-case scenario. If in that process you unintentionally obtained information about the deal….”
Hylaea didn’t even bother to question the truth of Lennok’s words.
Instead, she immediately understood the meaning and value of what Lennok had experienced and changed her judgment.
“I understand what you mean. It seems we’ll have to drastically revise the premises of our original plan.”
“If Jinwa is truly aiming for the legacy and intends to break the deal, that alone drastically increases the variables we must consider.”
Maiya also understood Hylaea’s words immediately and spoke calmly.
“Our plan was premised on the transaction between the Three Grand Dukes and the Ascendant proceeding normally. If Jinwa is prepared to break the contract even at the risk of a clash, we might not even be given time to steal the legacy.”
“According to Adamant Thunder’s explanation, the Ascendant’s true body can awaken and move at any time. She might even be wandering somewhere in Paradise Lost right now using an Incarnation Body.”
“Ultimately, that means the chances of sneaking away the legacy before the deal progresses are low. The only opportunity will be the moment Jinwa herself moves to meet the Three Grand Dukes?”
Pandemonium had figured out that Jinwa was asleep beneath Paradise Lost and was planning to secretly steal the legacy before the transaction took place.
But now that they learned from Lennok’s explanation that Jinwa wasn’t completely asleep, they could no longer stick to their original method.
If Jinwa herself or her Incarnation Body could act at any time, then the only opening would be the moment she moves to meet the Three Grand Dukes.
“When things went south, Jinwa tried to eat Yeongheo Palace whole and turn everything to nothing. If we clash with the Ascendant at this point, the chances of retrieving the legacy will be extremely low.”
Lennok looked at the members and opened his mouth.
“But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t approach Yeongheo Palace until the deal begins. On the contrary, in order to steal the legacy during the transaction, we’ll need to infiltrate Yeongheo Palace as quickly as possible and find the legacy’s location.”
“…In that case?”
“The problem is the very reason the Three Grand Dukes and the Ascendant chose Yeongheo Palace as the transaction site.”
Lennok fell into thought.
“Jinwa was aware of the secret hidden in Yeongheo Palace and tried to break off the deal with the Three Grand Dukes. In that process, she even asked me directly for my help.”
“…”
“There is some secret in Yeongheo Palace directly connected to Myeong himself… a secret we don’t know. The Three Grand Dukes and the Ascendant consider it the core of this whole affair.”
Lennok had not forgotten the last words the boy left as he vanished, extinguishing his own existence.
He had said that the direct cause of the end that the family of the Black Edict met existed within Yeongheo Palace.
Why Myeong had made a contract with the Three Grand Dukes and was defeated by Jinwa at the end of his Gabihaeng.
Why the reason for that exists in Yeongheo Palace, and why Jinwa had dragged Paradise Lost here to find it.
“Tower Lord, if you put it that way, it’ll be hard for others to understand.”
Freya nudged Lennok’s arm.
“In short, we need to find both Myeong’s legacy and the hidden secret in Yeongheo Palace, right?”
“It might be that those two objectives… are not so different after all.”
Lennok said.
“We’ve taken the long way around, but your plan is not wrong in its broad strokes. In the end, there’s a secret we can’t know unless we explore Yeongheo Palace beforehand, one way or another.”
“That is…”
“So, if possible, I intend to move to Yeongheo Palace right now.”
Lennok looked around at the quieted members and asked.
“If you’re ready, let’s begin immediately. Is that alright?”
“Ready or not… we’ve been doing nothing but tackling Spell-Word Stones for over three days.”
The Pandemonium members glanced at each other and immediately nodded.
“The exploration was dragging on because it was taking time to interpret the rules. There’s no reason to refuse.”
“I’m about to get a neurosis from deciphering the wordplay Jinwa put on the Spell-Word Stones.”
“Whether we go now or later, we have to take the risk anyway.”
Ermont shrugged.
“But, how do you plan to move right now, from this spot? We also know the direction of Yeongheo Palace, but the rules and Spell-Words there are so dense that it’s difficult to approach.”
“…”
“Let me tell you in advance, this airship can’t even fly outside of this canyon. You’d better give up any naive thoughts of traveling on this thing-”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Lennok said, closing his eyes.
“What I gained from rewinding the time of Paradise Lost once… wasn’t just simple information.”
“Huh?”
The decisive battle between Myeong and Jinwa that unfolded in Paradise Lost. The two wielded their spellcraft against each other and peered deeply into each other’s origins and essences.
Though the methods and scale were different, Lennok had also managed to see a part of her inner self while fighting both Jinwa’s Incarnation Body and her True Body.
He recalled it.
The transcendent Spell-Word Jinwa had shown before the regression. The startup word to move this vast Ideological Domain itself.
To imitate the mana pattern of Jinwa’s Incarnation Body, which he had seen in his memory, with near-perfection, to deceive even Paradise Lost and the Ascendant herself.
Slowly drawing up his mana, Lennok’s lips moved, and he slowly spun the words.
[…Cognitive Domain Collapse]
Crack!!
The actualized ‘Spell-Word’ struck the spacetime of Paradise Lost without reservation.
[Observational Dead Angle Deviation]
[Conceptual Domain Substitution]
“…Wait. Don’t tell me?”
Crack, crack!!!!
The purple sky cracked and shattered, distorting as if breaking apart.
Only then did the other members realize what Lennok was doing, and their faces turned pale.
“No way. What is this…!!!”
“What on earth did you do before you regressed!!”
Though it was the first time those gathered here had heard the Spell-Word, there was no one who did not understand the power contained in the language.
The moment Lennok, leaving the astonished gazes behind him, recited the Spell-Word that Jinwa had used.
[Timeline Designation: Spatial Coordinate Leap]
[Leap]
Kwwaaaaang!!!!
The airship leaped over the shattering sky and landed in the upper atmosphere where dark purple clouds had gathered.
“Kyaaak?!!”
“Kuhk…!!!”
The members, who had been thrown about inside the airship from the impact, barely regained their balance and hurriedly looked outside.
“Unbelievable.”
“That’s….”
Beyond the thick fog, on the other side of the canyon.
A bizarre spectacle where hundreds of purple-tinged Spell-Word Stones were lined up in an orderly fashion to the left and right.
Like pillars supporting a vast temple, the Spell-Word Stones were packed tightly on both sides, stretching to the end of the horizon.
“…The Spell-Word Stones we’ve seen so far were separated by thousands of meters.”
Hylaea’s complexion changed at the sight of the Spell-Word Stones densely covering the surroundings.
“I’ve never once seen so many Spell-Word Stones packed so closely together….”
“…”
Ooooooooh!!!!!
An ominous purple curtain hung over the path of bizarrely twisted Spell-Word Stones.
A sky where will-thought, covered in grotesque, distorted, and indecipherable characters, echoed.
At the end of that path of Spell-Word Stones, built like a barrier, the faded and desolate form of a detached palace could be seen.
“The detached palace where the Corpse Emperor’s mausoleum is said to be buried.”
Lennok’s eyes gleamed.
“We’ve arrived at Yeongheo Palace. We’ll enter immediately, without delay.”